The Reporter Sees Santa
By Barbara Schock
(This advertisement for
the 99 Cent Store, disguised as a news
article, was copied directly from The
Galesburg Republican-Register of December 15,
1888, p. 5. We are accustomed to seeing and
hearing countless advertisements during the
holiday season. We may not be aware the same
amount of promotion was used in years gone by.
There is no end to the imagination that can go
into an advertisement for the Christmas
shopping season. That was as true in 1888 as
it is today.)
A Little Girl Inveigles Him into a Beautiful
Emporium of Christmas Gifts, and He Sees
Santa and Boys and Girls Presents.
Santa Claus came to town Saturday, and a little girl says she thinks it an awful shame because we did not notice the genial old chap, whom children love so much. We asked her where she saw the reindeer driver. Why, she saw him in the window of the 99 Cent Store. He was just the cutest, kindest old man imaginable. She said that he was all dressed in fur, that he held a long tin trumpet in his hand, and that his eyes were as blue as the sky and as bright as the evening star.
Look here, Sis, we said, sposin’ we go up there and you show the old chappie to me. Well, children, we went, and bless my eyes, it would have done all of your hearts good to have been there too. Yes, there was the genuine, the only real authentic Santa Claus in the window, and he bowed and winked at me and wondered if I remembered the time when he got stuck in the chimney at our house trying to bring a toboggan slide down. Well, I recalled it and laughed over it, and old Chris Kringle shook his sides and his furs and gewgaws and little gifts, so hearty was his laughter. And we told him that we remembered how we used to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to see if he had filled the stockings.
But my little maid is tugging at my coat tails. My, what a crowd! There’s Deacon Jones and Elder Brown from clear down Spoon River way; and Aunt Jane and Grandma Jenks, from Rio; and Billy Funk and his best girl from Oneida and James Shucks and his bride from Abingdon. My charming little attendant says that every boy and girl in the county is here, and if I didn’t hurry up there won’t be anything to buy. Sly puss! She wants me to see Santa Claus.
But what shall I buy? I never saw such a display of toys, ranging from beautiful souvenirs, dainty favors, to the string dancing jack and the rattle box. Having no use for the last, we turn our attention to building blocks, wagons, toy animals, and we know not what else, until, with the crowing and the looking, we don’t know what we want, but we get interested and buy this, that and the other thing–a big doll for the girl, an album for Sarah, a rocking-horse for Frankie, opera glasses for Hattie, building blocks for Jimmie, portfolio for Lizzie, and like favors for the numerous other girls we know, and a tool-box for ourself.
Well, we came out strapped but happy, and hired a boy to take the things home in a wheelbarrow. Mr. Snyder said that he was just cram full of business and didn’t have time to eat hardly, and the little girl invited him up to dinner. The rest of the children are all going to the 99 Cent Store, No. 111 Main Street.
A Little Girl Inveigles Him into a Beautiful
Emporium of Christmas Gifts, and He Sees
Santa and Boys and Girls Presents.
Santa Claus came to town Saturday, and a little girl says she thinks it an awful shame because we did not notice the genial old chap, whom children love so much. We asked her where she saw the reindeer driver. Why, she saw him in the window of the 99 Cent Store. He was just the cutest, kindest old man imaginable. She said that he was all dressed in fur, that he held a long tin trumpet in his hand, and that his eyes were as blue as the sky and as bright as the evening star.
Look here, Sis, we said, sposin’ we go up there and you show the old chappie to me. Well, children, we went, and bless my eyes, it would have done all of your hearts good to have been there too. Yes, there was the genuine, the only real authentic Santa Claus in the window, and he bowed and winked at me and wondered if I remembered the time when he got stuck in the chimney at our house trying to bring a toboggan slide down. Well, I recalled it and laughed over it, and old Chris Kringle shook his sides and his furs and gewgaws and little gifts, so hearty was his laughter. And we told him that we remembered how we used to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to see if he had filled the stockings.
But my little maid is tugging at my coat tails. My, what a crowd! There’s Deacon Jones and Elder Brown from clear down Spoon River way; and Aunt Jane and Grandma Jenks, from Rio; and Billy Funk and his best girl from Oneida and James Shucks and his bride from Abingdon. My charming little attendant says that every boy and girl in the county is here, and if I didn’t hurry up there won’t be anything to buy. Sly puss! She wants me to see Santa Claus.
But what shall I buy? I never saw such a display of toys, ranging from beautiful souvenirs, dainty favors, to the string dancing jack and the rattle box. Having no use for the last, we turn our attention to building blocks, wagons, toy animals, and we know not what else, until, with the crowing and the looking, we don’t know what we want, but we get interested and buy this, that and the other thing–a big doll for the girl, an album for Sarah, a rocking-horse for Frankie, opera glasses for Hattie, building blocks for Jimmie, portfolio for Lizzie, and like favors for the numerous other girls we know, and a tool-box for ourself.
Well, we came out strapped but happy, and hired a boy to take the things home in a wheelbarrow. Mr. Snyder said that he was just cram full of business and didn’t have time to eat hardly, and the little girl invited him up to dinner. The rest of the children are all going to the 99 Cent Store, No. 111 Main Street.